Chapter Seven
On Christmas Eve, Toby stopped on the other side of the street and stared up at his living room window. It had snowed lightly earlier that day and there was a fine layer of white fluff resting on each windowsill. Toby’s living room window was the only window in the building with a small, decorated Christmas tree. He’d left the Christmas tree lights plugged in all day so he could see the tree shining in his window when he came home from work that night.
He’d had a long, stressful day in the office and he couldn’t wait to fill his tub and soak for a few hours. He wished the Christmas tree was in his bathroom so he could sit in the tub and stare at it. He would never forget the day he came home and found the tree there. He’d seen it from the street and covered his open mouth with his palm, wondering if that was really his apartment. When he went upstairs, he sat on the sofa and stared at it all night.
It was the same exact Christmas tree he’d seen in the shop window the night he’d had that dismal experience at the bar in the West Village. No one outside his family had ever done anything that nice for him before. He knew Richie had set the tree up, just as he’d left the flower arrangements on the coffee table. It was as if Richie had read his mind, because there was no way Richie could have known how much Toby wanted to buy that tree. Toby made sure he winked at Richie and thanked him the next time he saw him at work. He would have done more, but it wouldn’t have been appropriate under the circumstances.
Toby crossed the street slowly and didn’t rush upstairs. He had plenty of time before he had to meet Rosemary in the hallway. He was going out to dinner that Christmas Eve with Rosemary, Bill Weiss, and a few other friends he’d met through Bill. Two of those friends also happened to be Ted and Jake, the guys he’d met at the bar in the West Village. It turned out Ted and Jake were good friends with Bill, and Toby had no idea until he showed up at a Christmas cocktail party Bill threw and saw them standing in Bill’s kitchen. At first, Toby froze and panicked. But Ted and Jake didn’t go into the sordid details about the night they met Toby in the bar. They just laughed and told Bill they’d met Toby somewhere downtown.
When Toby reached the top of the second floor, he wondered if poor Richie Santori had heard about what happened to Brad Lindsay. But he pushed that terrible thought from his mind and focused on more positive things. It was Christmas Eve; he was going out with good friends; he didn’t want to think about things that would bring him down. And they were all going to celebrate Toby’s new job at the museum. Toby had kept this information quiet at the advertising agency. He wasn’t going to give his bosses notice until after the New Year because he wouldn’t be starting the new job at the museum until February first. At least he wouldn’t have to talk to Brad Lindsay about putting an end to their disgusting arrangement. This had already been taken care of, Toby had his apartment all to himself again, and he had nothing to worry about anymore.
When he inserted the key into his door, he could almost feel the hot bath water against his back. He stepped inside and smiled at his Christmas tree. But when he closed the door and switched on the lights, he pressed his palm to his chest and screamed. There was a naked man standing in the middle of his living room. A good looking naked man, too, with a lean muscular stomach, beefy legs that were covered with soft brown hair, and large square chest muscles. The naked man had a Santa hat on his head, a silky white beard covering his face, and a big red bow tied around his dick. He stood there gaping at Toby, as if unable to move, with his legs spread wide and a red sack hanging over his left shoulder. He had his semi-erect dick in his right hand and he was pointing it right at Toby.
“ Who are you?” Toby asked, reaching for the doorknob, ready to flee.
The naked man pulled down the beard and covered his dick with the red satchel. “It’s me, Richie. Calm down. What are you doing home now?”
Toby took a deep breath and exhaled. He’d never been so frightened in his life. The last thing he expected to see was Richie standing in the middle of his living room, completely naked, waving his big floppy dick. “I live here,” Toby said. “I didn’t think you’d be here after what happened.”
Richie wrapped the empty red satchel around his waist and stared at Toby with a clueless expression. “I’d assumed that Brad had mentioned we’d be meeting here on Christmas Eve. It’s been planned for a while.” The red satchel was large enough to cover most of his groin. But Toby could still see a dark patch of pubic hair and part of his balls. “And stop staring at me that way. You look like you’ve never seen a naked man before.”
Toby blinked and looked up at Richie’s face. “I’m sorry,” he said. “To be honest, I never have seen a naked man in a Santa suit.” Richie wasn’t wearing socks or shoes; just two more red bows tied around his ankles. It was the sexiest thing Toby had ever seen.
“Give me your coat,” Richie said.
“Huh?”
“Give me your coat so I can put it on. I feel naked.”
“But youare.”
“Just give me the damn coat.”
Toby quickly removed his black top coat and handed it to Richie from the other side of the room. He made sure he looked up at the ceiling so Richie wouldn’t feel selfconscious. That’s when it occurred to him that Richie knew nothing about Brad not being at the office. His chest caved in and he felt like turning around and running back down to the street.
After Richie put on the coat, he removed the satchel and tossed it on the chair. He pulled off the Santa hat and the beard and tossed them on top of it. The coat only came down to his upper thighs and exposed almost all of his legs. He didn’t bother to remove the bow around his dick and his ankles, which caused Toby’s imagination to kick into overdrive.
“I can’t believe Brad forgot to tell you we’d be meeting on Christmas Eve,” Richie said, as he walked to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. “I’m going to kill him. But I’m sorry I frightened you. I never would have been standing there in this get up if I’d known you were coming home.”
“Ah well,” Toby said. He couldn’t stop thinking about the red bow around Richie’s dick. He wanted to get down on his knees and untie the red bows around Richie’s sexy ankles and lick his toes. But he knew he had to tell Richie everything and he wasn’t looking forward to it. He couldn’t let him continue to believe Brad was still coming. So he cleared his throat and asked, “When was the last time you talked to Brad?”